Whither humanitarian intervention is the question that people like Jan Egeland, formerly of the United Nations and now with the nongovernmental organisation Human Rights Watch, ask. One understands the concern of an activist like him. The European Union and the United States began coming together on the idea of institutionalising the concept that when human rights were being violated in extremis (normally that meant massacring was taking place) then other nations had an obligation to intervene, militarily if necessary. Read more

By the standard of the Nonaligned Movement, the recently-concluded summit in Tehran was relatively exciting. The United Nations chief, Ban Ki-moon, severely criticized the host country, Iran. The latter’s boss, Ayatollah Khamenei, verbally abused the UN in return. The new Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, inveigled against the Syrian government, triggering a walkout by the latter’s delegation. Read more

The United Nations Council for Trade and Development has issued its annual World Investment Report this week. It has chosen an interesting theme to build its report around, the importance of so-called non-equity modes of international production. Read more

Flitting in and out of the recent Advance Australia meeting in New Delhi, I was asked to speak about global citizenship. The audience, mostly Australian diaspora living in India, were interested in down-to-things like India’s impossible visa system for foreign residents and the like. Read more